No Wireless (Yet) for West Metro
Star Tribune reports that "sparsely populated cities around Lake Minnetonka worry wireless might be too costly."

This summer, the Lake Minnetonka Cable Commission suspended their plans for wi-fi to the 17 cities that they work with. With that, each city had to make their own decision. They decided to wait and see.

West metro is sparsely populated but covers a lot of land with 52,000 people spread over several hundred square miles. That makes any type of broadband deployment difficult. Some residents get access via cable, others through Qwest, but a significant number cannot get broadband.

Medina, MN (population 4,005 as of the 2000 census), did a survey of 550 residents and 60 percent said the "city providing high-speed Internet was either 'essential' or 'very important.'"

Sad that rural broadband problems begin within twenty miles of a major urban center.

Wireless net is on hold for many cities in west metro by Jenna Ross


- posted by Peter Fleck @ Permalink 8:07 PM [to Del.icio.us]